


Faith in Sound and Song

by cherrybina



Category: Merlin (BBC) RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-15
Updated: 2009-11-15
Packaged: 2017-10-02 20:41:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrybina/pseuds/cherrybina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Colin teases Bradley about his facial hair, his musical tastes and his clothing. It must be love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faith in Sound and Song

Bradley is exhausted when the appearance at Forbidden Planet is finished. He and Angel walk outside together after the last of the fans have gone.

"So," Angel says. "Are you going to tell me what's going on with the…?" She trails off and touches her fingers to her chin.

Bradley had been expecting the question, and he gives her what he hopes is a very casual shrug. "Oh, right. It's nothing, Just didn't feel like shaving, is all."

Angel pulls her phone out of her bag and aims it at Bradley. "Smile!" she says, and Bradley hears a soft click.

"What was that for?"

"I wanted to get a photo of you for posterity, just in case you get a look at yourself in the mirror later and decide that trying to grow a beard was a truly awful idea," she says, tapping away at her phone and not looking up. "And I've just sent it to Colin."

"I'm not trying to grow a beard," Bradley says, rubbing his chin self-consciously. "And anyway, Colin's in Ireland."

"Not as of this morning. He came back a day early. I expect you'll be hearing from him _very_ soon," she says with a wide grin.

Sure enough, a moment later Bradley's phone buzzes in his pocket. _Come over when you're done,_ the message reads.

Angel kisses him on the cheek, teasing him good naturedly about how much it tickles, and then says goodbye, leaving Bradley alone on the sidewalk.

"I could grow a beard if I wanted to," Bradley calls at her retreating form before turning and heading off toward the nearest tube station.

***

On the way to Colin's, he opens his bag and pulls out his iPod and brand new headphones. After quickly glancing around the mostly empty subway car, he puts them over his ears.

Bradley doesn't even make it through one song before yanking the headphones off and shoving them back in his bag. They're awkward and uncomfortable, and they pinch his ears. Plus, he doesn't care how successful the current season of the show is; it's ridiculous to pay 150 pounds for a pair of giant headphones that don't do anything except make him feel like one of those people who directs airplanes on the runway.

He pops his regular white earbuds in instead, and settles back in his seat for the rest of the trip.

Colin's already grinning when he opens the door of his flat to greet Bradley.

"What?" Bradley asks, already feeling defensive.

"Angel's pictures really didn't do it justice."

"What is it with you two? I just got tired of the makeup people shaving so close they took off a layer of my skin every day during filming. Prince Arthur was a busy and important man. Would it have been that unrealistic for him to have a five-o'clock shadow?"

"So now you're getting them back with the — thing, you've got there?"

"I could grow a beard if I wanted to," Bradley says for the second time that day.

Colin just smirks and closes the door behind him.

"So, you weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow," Bradley says as he collapses on Colin's sofa.

Colin sits down beside him. "Yeah, it was totally last minute, otherwise I would have ended up at that signing with you. How was it, anyway?"

"Same as the rest," Bradley says with a shrug. "Oh, I got those headphones you told me about. The ones you said would change my music listening experience forever? I'm not impressed."

Colin sighs in a very put upon way. "Bradley, we've been over this before. It's a subtle difference, one that might not be obvious while listening to Coldplay, but —"

"What makes you think I was listening to Coldplay?"

"You _weren't_ listening to Coldplay?"

Bradley glares at Colin. "Fine, then what do I have to listen to for me to understand why it's worth lugging around those ridiculous looking things when my earbuds — that work perfectly well, I might add — are small enough to fit in my pocket."

"Hang on." Colin gets up off the sofa and leaves the room. He comes back a moment later carrying his own iPod. "We'll start with earbuds for a baseline," he says, so Bradley pops them into his ears and hands to cord to Colin, who plugs it into his iPod. "Now listen carefully."

"I know this song," Bradley says after a moment.

"It's called Lion in a Coma. You really know this?" Colin asks, sounding surprised.

"Why's that so hard for you to believe?"

"Sorry, it's just that I didn't think they played Animal Collective at the Abercrombie shop," Colin says with a smirk, gesturing to Bradley's shirt.

Bradley yanks the earbuds out of his ears. "Just get on with your little demonstration here, okay?"

"Okay, now for the real headphones." Colin takes them from Bradley and examines them. "Very nice," he says, sounding impressed.

Bradley shrugs. "I just bought whatever ones you emailed to me. They pinch my ears."

Colin smiles at that. "You have to make sure they're adjusted to fit over your ears properly. Like this," he says, and crouches down in front of Bradley.

Bradley stays very still while Colin leans in close, fitting the headphones over his ears and adjusting them to size over his head. Colin is so close Bradley can smell his shampoo and feel the heat of his skin. When Colin catches his eye, he pulls his hands away suddenly and stands up, attaching the cord from the headphones to his iPod.

"Okay, now listen again." Everything is muffled due to the headphones covering Bradley's ears, but Bradley thinks Colin's voice sounds a little shaky.

The same song comes on again, and while it is certainly louder, Bradley can't tell much of a difference beyond that. He waits a moment before tugging off the headphones. "Sorry," he tells Colin. "It sounds the same."

"You're hopeless, you know that?" Colin says, sinking down onto the couch beside Bradley.

Bradley fiddles with the cord to the headphones. "When we were filming, you didn't have such a problem with the earbuds."

Colin laughs. "Are you mad? I used to tell you every day how terrible they were."

"Yeah, but you still used them. With me, I mean."

The smile disappears from Colin's face. "It would have been hard to share these, yeah?" he asks, picking up the headphones and turning them over in his hands.

Bradley grabs the headphones out of Colin's hands. "I bet we could. They cost 150 quid, they ought to do all sorts of special tricks." He adjusts them until they're as big as possible and then slides over until he's right next to Colin.

They've sat just like this countless times before while filming, between takes, each with one of Bradley's earbuds, but it's different here in the quiet intimacy of Colin's flat.

It's not until Bradley tries to hand one side of the headphones to Colin that he realises what it means to share, but it's too late to back out, so Bradley just leans in until his cheek touches Colin's and slips the headphones over both of their heads.

They're closer than they ever needed to be when sharing the earbuds, and after a moment of stillness, Colin hits the play button and the song comes on again. The music is loud in one ear, and Bradley's other ear is smushed up against Colin's, and he can't hear anything except Animal Collective and the sound of his own pulse, loud in his head. Bradley hooks his arm on the back of the sofa behind Colin since there's nowhere else for him to go, and he can feel the heat and tension in Colin's body all along his own. Bradley's hand curls into a fist along the back of the couch just behind Colin's shoulder and with his cheek pressed tight to Colin's, he wonders how he ever thought the earbuds were just as good as the headphones.

A moment later, Colin moves, pulling the headphones off and shifting away on the couch. Colin laughs nervously, rubbing his cheek with one hand. "You're all itchy."

After that, the silence between them is awkward, and Bradley leaves without remembering why he came over to begin with.

***

 

That night, Bradley climbs into his bed and turns off the lamp. The light from his iPod is bright in the dark room, and he scrolls through his playlists.

During filming, they had shared Bradley's earbuds more times than he can count. Colin had grown more and more appalled at Bradley's taste in music until one day he had confiscated Bradley's iPod and loaded it up with songs, insisting that it was imperative to Bradley's musical education.

Bradley has a separate playlist just made up of songs Colin had insisted were better than anything he already owned, and in there he finds the song he's looking for. He pulls his headphones on, carefully fitting them over his ears just the way Colin showed him, and lies back on his pillow. The song is familiar by now, and he falls asleep with Lion in a Coma on repeat.

***

 

In the morning he looks at himself in the mirror and picks up his razor. He can't remember why he thought facial hair was ever a good idea. It's easy to part with, and he feels more like himself when it's gone. It's not like he was really trying to grow a beard in the first place.

Later that day, Colin sends him a text: _You left your earbuds here. I know how much you love them and I'll be around all day if you want to pick them up._

Bradley ignores the fact that he has approximately eight sets, since he can't seem to leave the Apple store without getting them free with his purchase, and texts Colin back, telling him he'll be over in an hour. He changes his shirt before he leaves, very deliberately choosing another one emblazoned with the Abercrombie and Fitch logo.

It's still awkward between them when Bradley gets to Colin's, and in an attempt to lighten the mood, he tells Colin he can keep the earbuds if he really wants them.

It works, and Colin's face relaxes into a familiar grin. "No way."

"I guess you don't have to worry about them until we start filming the next season and you're forced to share with me and listen to my — what was it you said? My horrid taste in music, I think it was."

"You know, I have my own iPod with my own headphones."

Bradley sighs in frustration. "Well then why did you do it? Why did you listen to music you hate with one earbud when you could have gone off on your own and not been forced to sit beside me for hours each day in every dark corner of the castle?"

Colin doesn't answer; he just looks at Bradley with his eyebrows raised until Bradley gets it.

"Oh," Bradley says, blinking rapidly. "Oh."

His brain doesn't go much past that before Colin kisses him, but then Colin always did have a way of making him feel stupid.

They end up in Colin's bed, sprawled on top of the rumpled sheets. Colin is on his back under Bradley, and his shirt rides up, exposing a strip of skin above the waistband of his jeans. Bradley runs his fingers over the pale skin there, taking delight in the way Colin shivers at his touch.

Colin's shirt comes off first, followed by Bradley's, and before Bradley can work out much beyond the idea that he should probably get naked before he comes in his jeans, Colin pulls his mouth away from Bradley's and looks up at him through heavy lidded eyes. "Will you fuck me?"

Bradley hesitates for only a second before saying, "Yeah, okay."

They manage to strip off the rest of their clothes and then Colin presses a bottle of lube and a condom into Bradley's hand before leaning back on the bed and spreading his legs. Bradley kneels between Colin's thighs and slicks his fingers, spilling lube all over the sheets in the process.

Bradley fucks Colin open with his fingers, one at a time, until Colin is writhing against the sheets, begging him to get on with it. He rolls on the condom and strokes his lube-slicked hand over his cock before pushing one of Colin's thighs toward his chest. When Bradley presses the head of his cock in, he thinks maybe he should go slowly since they've never done this before, but Colin just tilts his hips up and squeezes Bradley's shoulder, urging him on.

Bradley fucks Colin with long deep strokes until they are both moaning into each other's mouths. When Bradley reaches between them and strokes Colin's cock, Colin arches up and comes all over his hand. The feel of Colin clenching tight around him is enough to send Bradley over, and he comes, gasping into Colin's neck.

They're both sleepy after, and when Colin tells Bradley he can stay, Bradley doesn't hesitate at all before saying yes.

***

The next morning, Bradley wakes up to an empty bed. He manages to locate his boxers in a ball on the floor, but his shirt is nowhere to be found. There are a pair of Colin's pyjama bottoms hanging over the back of a chair, and Bradley entertains the thought for about three seconds before deciding that any attempt to fit into Colin's clothes can only end in tragedy.

He finds Colin in the kitchen, making coffee wearing Bradley's Abercrombie shirt.

"Nice shirt," Bradley says as he fetches two mugs from the shelf and crosses the room to where Colin's standing.

Colin looks down at his shirt and then back up at Bradley, a faint pink blush appearing on his cheeks. "Yeah, it's surprisingly comfortable."

Bradley places the mugs on the counter and puts his hands on Colin's shoulders. "It's a little big," he says softly.

Colin smiles and shrugs, wrapping his arms around Bradley's waist. "Maybe you can take me there so I can get one in my size."

Bradley snorts. "You aren't worried what that will do to your reputation if anyone sees you going in?"

Colin leans back against the counter and tugs Bradley closer. "I'll just tell them you dragged me there."

"You know," Bradley says, slipping a thigh between Colin's legs. "If you keep insulting me like this, I'm gonna leave and take my shirt with me."

Colin slides his hands up Bradley's back and hooks them around his neck. "Nah," he says, pulling Bradley in until their faces are just an inch apart. "I'd like to keep it. The shirt, I mean."

"I'm okay with that," Bradley answers, and kisses Colin on the mouth, soft and sweet, in the quiet of the early morning.


End file.
